In the simple old days, taking care of your fans meant saying, "Youve been a great audience" at the end of each show and handing out a few backstage
passes to the cute girls and the guitar fanatics. Today you've got to have a band web site and MP3s and answer e-mail from around the world. But even that wasn't enough for the polished hard-rock outfit from Westchester called Pope Syndicate.

If a fan wants a free CD, no problem. A box of 25 to give out to
friends? Sure, as quick as we can burn 'em. Guitar music to one of the bands songs? They've been known to write those up on demand and e-mail them out too.

"People write to us and say, 'I'd really love to learn how to play
that song,' and we e-mail them the chords," says bassist Jordan Marion.

"We go to any length for our fan base," adds drummer Mike Bambace.

And fans around the world are rewarding them by spreading the
word and the discs. Alongside big-label street teams promoting the top
rock acts to fans outside concert venues, you might find the band members
or their volunteer street teams doing the same  not just here but in
Chicago, the West Coast, even as far away as Malta and New Zealand (home of an extremely devoted fan whose online handle is "holey_snot").

A few years ago, bandleader Dave Portal and Marion were in a much different place  playing in a Grateful Dead-inspired jam band called
Spywagon. The songs were loose and improvisational and so was the
attitude. Until the time came to either start taking music really seriously or forget it.

"The rehearsals were getting fewer and farther between, and a
friend said, 'Dave, you need to sink your teeth into something,' " Portal
says. "I decided I didn't want to create a band that was going to be like
Spywagon or any of the others."

The result is Pope Syndicate, a supertight post-grunge quartet with big fat guitar riffs, fierce, throaty vocals, and sheer determination to be the best they can be. Honestly, for a week or so I always had at least one of the band's (free) discs in my CD changer alongside those of Bush, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and the like, and once a day I had to get up and check because I wasn't sure which one was playing  it was Pope Syndicate every time.

"I kind of look at it like a soup, as funny as that sounds. You can put anything in it as long as it comes out tasting good."

 David Portal

"Veer" (hear it on RealAudio or MP3) is the fan favorite, judging from a general consensus on the band's Internet message board. The singing style reminds me of Eddie Vedder  starting slow and cool, then suddenly bursting into a hoarsely passionate shout on top of slashing guitar chords.

The lyrics reflect an anguish about breaking away from the expectations of others  including a girlfriend, maybe  to follow one's own path.

I want to fly,
Veer away from this norm in my life.
I've been no help to stick with my routine and strife.

Look at my situation,
Girl, I'm prone to all my problems here.
Is it me or someone else?
I must veer from you.
I must steer away from you.

If anyone on the message board has any relationship advice for the guy in the song, I haven't come across it, but half a dozen people did advise the band to play the song at an upcoming CBGB gig on the grounds that it kicks ass. (No argument here.)

With the addition this year of guitarist Joe Salvatore and with a repertoire of 30 or 40 stage-ready songs, the band members feel settled in but not done developing. The latest material plays with odd time signatures, unorthodox structures, rap-rock and some murkier, jazzier sounds. (For a taste of that, try "Skin Deep" on RA,
MP3.)

"We don't have the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus that A&R people are looking for," Portal explains. "We'll throw that hook in there for you, no problem, but we're going to put it in a different time signature. When I write, I have to keep in different."

"I kind of look at it like a soup, as funny as that sounds. You can put anything in it as long as it comes out tasting good."